National Day of Action against TTIP, on Saturday 12th July, Picadilly Gardens, 12-3pm

6 July 2014

The controversial proposed free trade agreement between the EU and the US, which could be agreed by the end of theyear, aims to gradually remove all regulatory differences between the US and the EU. The European Commission has called it "the biggest trade deal in the world".

Have you not heard of it ? Most people haven't because the government organisations within the EU and US don't want you to until it is in place. All negotiations have been carried out in secret and we will only know the details once it is ratified.

If this agreement is signed by the UK government, a large chunk of our democracy will be signed away by the Liberals and the Conservatives. It will be too late for Labour to fix it if they get elected in 2015, even if they had the will, which apparently, they don't anyway. Farage loves TTIP !

What does this trade agreement mean in practice?

We get a super transatlantic trading unit which harmonises rules across the EU and US. This is not an enlarged EU model; there is no democracy. Corporations run the game and their lawyers adjudicate in disputes. This is all done in secrecy.

This means that US companies are free to operate in Europe and if prevented from doing so, they can sue elected governments for anticipated loss of profit.

Let's make no mistakes; this proposed free trade deal is a huge threat to hard-fought EU standards for the quality and safety of our food, our sources of energy, the NHS,workers' rights and our privacy.

The banking lobby is so happy with the financial services TTIP proposals that it has said that the text could have come straight out of its own brochure.

The Green Party is totally opposed to TTIP as are Unite, Unison, GM-Free Manchester, Left Unity, the People Assembly campaign, Frack-Free Greater Manchester, Friends of the Earth, NGOs and many others.

Bury Green Party will take part in the anti TTIP Manchester rally on Saturday 12th July. Do join us under our banner !

If you wish to know more about TTIP, there will be a talk at Unison's NW HQ, Arena Point, 1 Hunts Bank, Manchester M3 1UN on Wednesday 9th July .